Now would you open your Bible with me please to Ephesians, the second chapter.
As we look at a couple of verses right toward the end of the chapter.
This is the Word of God and it says, in Christ Jesus the whole building being fitted together
is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together
into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
The community of the saints is a temple, a dwelling place for deity.
The particular word used for temple by the apostle in this text is used in other places
of the inner sanctuary of the temple that is the Holy of Holies.
We know that today God no longer dwells in a building made of human hands and by human
design and as a matter of fact God was never limited to such in the first place.
But rather today He dwells within a living temple, the New Testament temple.
That word is used in three contexts in the New Testament.
First of all the believer's body itself is called a temple, 1 Corinthians 6 19.
We are therefore to care for our bodies as being the dwelling place of God.
Secondly is used of the local assembly of the saints, a local church in 1 Corinthians
3 verses 16 and 17 is called the temple of God.
And it is used here in the text today in the sense of the universal church, the mystical
body of Christ that is composed of all New Testament believers in all of the centuries
of this age.
The performance of worship was of the highest value in ancient Israel.
In fact there were certain people who were set apart by the nation to lead them in worship.
These were the Levites.
They because of that unique role were considered to be the most privileged among all of the
tribes.
What is worship considered to be today in the New Testament temple?
By our mainstream culture it is considered to be irrelevant.
And sadly it is also by many genuine Christians because nearly anything will keep them from
being in worship.
Our culture as a whole and the church itself is paying a high price for this demeaning
of worship that is taking place in our day.
Man was created to know God and to worship Him, to declare His worthiness, to adore and
to pay honor to Him.
But man fell from his exalted place in the garden.
He fell into rebellion, hostility, and warfare against God, His Creator.
Nonetheless, God in His great mercy and grace has gone about redeeming a remnant of fallen
humanity to restore them to that privileged position for which we were all created, to
be the worshipers of God.
That remnant today is what we call the church of Jesus Christ, the new community.
We are a new community intended by God to be a community of worshipers.
We are a temple, the dwelling place of God, the place for worship.
In this book of Ephesians, it seems to me that we have something of an example of the
worship that was given to God in the first century.
It's found in one of the doxologies in the book, that being back in chapter 1 beginning
in verse 3, where the Apostle Paul almost, as it were, records for us a hymn of praise
to God.
He tells us that God is to be worshiped in this text that begins, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul gives us here an example of worship, and in doing so, he provides several basic
insights for us regarding worship in the New Testament community, the temple of God in
this age.
In the first place, we have the insight that worship is to be directed to the triune God.
You will notice he says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we have two persons of the Trinity mentioned there in the very first clause of
verse 3.
Again in verse 5, he mentions Jesus Christ, in verse 6, calling Him His beloved, and on
it goes.
God the Father and God the Son are clearly mentioned, as is God the Holy Spirit in verse
13.
We were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Worship is to be directed to the triune God.
We today are as much in danger as ever of falling into false worship.
There are some people who come to church to worship a system of theology, and as long
as that careful system of theology is adhered to, they're happy, because to them that is
what they come to worship, a particular view of theology.
There are those who come to worship church traditions.
This is the way we've always done it.
This is the way we should forever do it.
And so traditions really are the focus of their worship.
And should those traditions be crossed, they are cross.
They are angry people.
Because it's not God that they worship, but the traditions of the church.
There are some who worship the means of worship rather than the God that is the end of worship.
There are some who focus so much on the style of worship that they can't worship God.
I think our church is probably less polarized over the styles of worship than many, even
most churches.
But we have people who are on the extremes of both the contemporary and the traditional.
We have some on the extreme of the contemporary side who say that unless you lift your hands
and feel good, you aren't really worshiping.
And in emphasizing the feelings like that and the lifting of the hands, which there's
nothing wrong with, and I encourage in fact, but in emphasizing the means, it exposes the
fact that we're here to worship a style and not God.
On the other hand, there are those on the extreme of the traditional end of the spectrum
who if they don't hear classical music and if the worship isn't somber and formal, they're
offended.
We need to understand that we are here to worship God, not a style of worship.
I fear that styles in some cases have become idolatrous to people.
We are as much in danger today of false worship as the church has ever been.
What the apostle tells us in this hymn, this classic doxology of praise, is that our worship
is to be directed to God, whatever style it may be.
And he tells us that as we worship God, we are to worship Him as Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.
That, of course, is one of the fundamental doctrines of our faith.
It is a test of orthodoxy as to whether one believes in the triunity of God.
There are many who deny that today.
It is certain that the Trinity is beyond human understanding, beyond logical explanation,
but it is true.
And although the word itself is not used in the Bible, it is used to describe the truth
that is self-evident in the Word of God, that God is three in one.
Charles Hodge defines the Trinity in these words, the Trinity is composed of three united
persons without separate existence, so completely united as to form one God.
The divine nature subsists in three distinctions, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And to each of them, we may rightly direct our worship, our praise.
I was glad this morning we included a hymn that did exactly that, the Father, the Son,
the Holy Spirit, and then to thee, great one in three, we sang.
Worship is to be directed to the triune God.
The second insight that I see is that worship embraces the attributes and works of God.
All of these are to the praise of His glory.
Now, I've not taken time to read this paragraph, but I hope it's familiar to most of us anyway.
You will notice that in these verses of Ephesians 1, we have a number of attributes of God specifically
mentioned or suggested.
For example, verse 4, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
That tells us that God is not created, that before the world or the universe was, He existed.
God is eternal, one of His essential attributes.
In verses 5 and 7, we see His grace and His kindness.
In verses 8 and 9, His wisdom as God.
In verses 5, 9, and 11 again, we see God's will mentioned and the fact that He purposes
everything according to His sovereignty.
God is sovereign.
Now, there may be other attributes as well that you can glean as you study through this
wonderful hymn of praise.
We are to worship God for His attributes and for His works.
Notice again that in verse 3, it says, He has blessed us.
That's a work of God.
Graciously giving to us, bestowing upon us, He says later.
God has chosen us.
God has predestined us.
God has freely bestowed grace.
God has redeemed.
He has forgiven.
He has revealed.
He has purposed.
He has sealed.
All of these are the works of God.
They abound in this hymn.
And so, our worship is to embrace both the attributes of who God is and the works that
this mighty God has done on our behalf.
Worship is declaring God's worth.
It is repeating and speaking God's praise.
The third insight that I want to point out is that worship results in transformed worshipers.
In verse 12, for example, it says, all of this is to the end that we who were the first
to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
In the text that we read at the beginning, it says that we are a people growing into
a holy temple.
We are growing in holiness.
We have a new soundboard back there this morning, and these gifted men who volunteer to help
us with it are struggling to keep it all together.
We're grateful for the wonderful advantage of the soundboard, but one of them said, whom
I'll not name, but he's sitting back there on the right.
He said this morning, please be patient.
God is not finished with me yet.
Well, hey, isn't that true with all of us?
God isn't finished with us.
We are growing, and worship results in transformed worshipers.
You see, worship is not entertainment.
It is interaction.
It's me coming to meet with God and with His people.
Worship is communing with God.
I cannot do that without a change in my attitudes.
Saints should always come to worship God, expecting to participate in worship.
When we do, we will take away from the service a commensurate benefit to our own lives.
We come to give, and as we give to God, worship we receive accordingly.
Occasionally, I hear sentences like these, well, I don't get anything out of worship.
I'm not being spiritually fed in worship.
This sentence has used to bother me, but I have come to realize that in fact they are
embarrassing statements to those who make them, because they are statements of self-disclosure.
Statements like that are made by those like the emperor who didn't know he was naked.
For when we come to worship and give to God the glory that is due to Him, we will get
something out of the service.
We will be spiritually fed.
And if we're not getting anything and not being spiritually fed, it's because we didn't
give anything to God.
There are a number of observations that I make based upon these brief thoughts this
morning about the community of worship.
Let me share some of them with you with what is suggested here about worship, wide latitude
is still given to the influence of culture.
God does not box in worship here.
He gives us some of the basic principles about worship, three of which we've talked about,
but He doesn't box worship into a certain culture.
Now certainly when we come to worship God, we must put away the pagan and demonic aspects
of our culture.
They do not belong in worship.
But human culture is not in itself sinful.
It is not inherently sinful.
Indeed, as I thought about this, I realized that in the book of Revelation when it describes
our worship in eternity to come, it says that we will still be a multitude of people with
many languages and tribal backgrounds and colors.
We are not going to be resurrected all in the flavor of vanilla.
When we get to heaven there is going to be something of our human culture left over that
we are going to bring there with us in our worship.
Last Sunday we brought another culture into our worship center.
It was interesting to read a couple of reactions.
In fact, I chuckled if I didn't even laugh out loud Monday morning as I read them.
On the one hand, and I want to give them credit, they signed their statements.
One person said, pray for our music ministry.
Well I think that basically says what that person is.
Pray for our music ministry.
On the other hand, the person said, the best music we've had here in five years.
That explains it.
There it is.
It's illustrated for you.
Last Sunday we had a mission Sunday.
And since most of us don't take the step into another culture, we brought another culture
here to lead us in worship.
It was a marvelous experience.
And it's wrong to condemn worship just because it's in another culture.
That doesn't mean that we don't have our own preferences because we do.
But the people who are on the opposite ends of the spectrum need to learn a basic biblical
principle.
Accept one another.
When we do that, says Paul in Romans 14 and 15, it is evidence of spiritual maturity.
And I commend the 95% that have evidenced that kind of maturity in our congregation.
Another observation I make is that worship is not confined to a building.
But meeting together for corporate worship is a high priority in the New Testament.
It is true we no longer worship God in a temple building like the Jews did in the same sense
that they did.
But let's not take that to the extreme that therefore meeting together as a congregation
isn't important.
It is important.
In Hebrews chapter 10, the writer tells us that there were even those in the first century
who were sinning because they failed to be with the assembly of God's people in worship.
What does it take to keep us from worship?
That tells us where it is in our priorities.
No, we don't worship in a building, but the gathering of the church for worship is a very
high priority in the New Testament.
You tell that to the deer hunters who have gone this morning, will you?
Number three, the place of worship may be simple or elaborate.
The place where we gather to worship as the temple of God may be simple or elaborate.
I don't think there are any rules about that in the New Testament.
There are a number of factors which would influence the building, the culture where
it's located.
I remember worshiping in a house that was made of dirt and bamboo in Indonesia that
wouldn't be very comfortable here in Minnesota.
Culture has a lot to do with the place that we worship.
So does affluence.
And so does the mission of the church, the reason for its existence.
The place of worship may be simple or elaborate, but it does, whatever it's like, it does make
a statement about the congregation's concept of God.
It does make a statement about the congregation's concept of God.
We have gathered this morning in what some term grace church, great land.
I remember when it was being built that some of the construction people thought it was
a warehouse.
This room was not built to be a worship center.
It was built to be a multipurpose room until we could phase into a permanent worship center.
I hope we don't stop midstream on that plan that we've had from the beginning.
We've been able to add to it over the years to make it a place that's more conducive for
worship, and I'm glad for all of that.
The place that we worship says something about our concept of God.
When God commanded the people of Israel to build a place for Him, it was a place that
was elaborate in its beauty.
I don't think that we can cross that over directly to the church today and say that a
church must be elaborate, but it ought to be a place that in its beauty, in its cultural
setting consistent with the mission of the church, it enhances our worship of God.
And it certainly ought to be a place that's clean.
It ought to be a place that we can go without embarrassment.
When I go downstairs and see some of the carpet down there, frankly I'm a little embarrassed
that our community was in to our church voting this last Tuesday and saw our carpet downstairs.
I think that's a bit of an embarrassment to us as a church.
I don't think that it truly reflects what we think of God.
I hope it doesn't.
But the point is the same, that the place of worship may be simple or it may be elaborate,
but it does make a statement about what we think of God.
Fourthly, worship is an active expression from the heart.
Somebody has written a book entitled, Worship is a Verb.
It is.
Worship is not a thing.
Worship is an activity.
It's what we do when we get here.
Worship is a verb and it must involve our bodies to some degree.
I don't mind it at all when people are so moved in worship they want to lift their hands
to God.
I think that can be a beautiful expression to God.
In fact, we sing choruses sometimes in which we say in them, we lift our hands.
And we don't lift our hands, we're lying.
We're not lifting our hands.
If we sing we're lifting our hands, are we not to lift our hands to God?
The other extreme, I've been in some services where you knew exactly when people were going
to lift their hands.
Because being a free church that would never claim to have liturgy, it nonetheless has
its own informal liturgy.
And when certain words are said or certain places in a song are reached immediately,
all the hands go up.
And somehow that lacks as well.
Worship is an active expression.
It ought to involve our bodies.
I was thrilled when Paul told us to stand on that fourth verse of holy, holy, holy.
Because if he hadn't I would have had to stand anyway, wouldn't you?
I loved the way that that built and built and built until we stood to our feet to sing
holy, holy, holy.
Worship is an active expression of the heart.
I cannot understand Christians who come to a service and just stand their glum and never
sing to God.
I can't understand that kind of Christianity.
Worship is an active expression of the heart.
Finally, the living temple is under construction.
The living temple of God is today under construction and it is holy unto the Lord.
Our lives make it so or less so.
As we come today to the culmination of this service and coming to the Lord's table, we
come for a life check.
We recognize that these elements represent a sacrifice on our behalf and we look in and
examine our hearts and then reflect to the Lord.
Let's come to Him this morning with our hearts pure and determined that as we partake of
these elements today, it will be yet another block laid, another nail driven into the temple
that is holy unto the Lord.
Bow with me please in prayer.
And as I pray, I'm going to ask those serving to come and the ensemble as well.
Let's pray.
Father, we are to be a temple.
So your word says, help us to understand all the ramifications of that and may we as a
community of people be a worshiping community, bringing you the glory, declaring your worth
as you are worthy.
In Jesus' name, amen.
All, God above.
Amen.
Yeah man.
White shirt.
All of the blood of Jesus.
All the blood of Jesus.
It washes white as snow.
All the blood of Jesus.
It washes white as snow.
Jesus, save your Lamb of God above.
Come and wash me in the fountain of your blood.
Wash me in the fountain of your blood.
Nothing else can save me but your love.
Jesus, save your Lamb of God above.
Come and wash me in the fountain of your blood.
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, we recognize your presence in this place.
You are here by the Spirit.
And as we partake of this bread, we do so communing with you from our hearts.
And we receive this bread with gratitude for your sacrifice.
Amen.
Jesus said, this is my body broken for you.
Eat it in remembrance of me.
And our Lord, for this cup we also offer to you our thanks.
And receive it in communion with yourself remembering the blood that was shed for our redemption.
Amen.
Jesus said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Drink it in remembrance of me.
Lord, we do remember.
And as priests unto God, purchased by this blood, we offer to you our worship.
We declare your worthiness.
And we say, bless you, Lord.
Sing together with me.
Sing, Alleluia to the Lord.
Amen.
As you're collecting the cups, let me tell you that if you wish this morning to participate in the benevolent offering
that we call the Elders Fund, there is an offering box at the back door.
We want to encourage you to go out that way and to leave your gift in that box.
And it will be used for that purpose for those who are needy.
Thank you very much for your part in that and for being here today as we have worshiped our Lord Jesus Christ.
And as we go, we don't leave him here.
He's not staying.
He's going with us.
Let's walk in that joy.
God bless you. We're dismissed.